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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27621635">evacuate the dancefloor (or shut up and dance with me)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneSweetMelody/pseuds/OneSweetMelody'>OneSweetMelody</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>a million reasons [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>High School AU, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:21:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,320</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27621635</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneSweetMelody/pseuds/OneSweetMelody</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Neil lets his eyes roam over the high school gymnasium, converted for One Night Only into a summer campsite with flower garland, twinkle lights, and mason jars. Nicky had complained, in great detail, how much he’d fought with the rest of the student council for less cheesy decorations.</p><p>Andrew tears his gaze away from their classmates and levels Neil with a level stare, “high school relationships don’t work.”</p><p>“Well it’s a good thing we aren’t dating then.”</p><p>__<br/>Neil and Andrew attend prom and are definitely too cool to dance.</p><p>Part of a collection of unrelated AUs where Neil and Andrew do or don't decide to get married. Vary in length. Stand-alone fic.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>a million reasons [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>106</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>evacuate the dancefloor (or shut up and dance with me)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Slight edit of high school prom AU. Two guys at prom. Sitting five feet apart because they're not gay.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Just get up and dance if you’re going to keep staring.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know how to dance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t be worse than him,” Andrew nods towards the dancefloor and Neil follows his line of sight to Kevin dancing. Dancing was a loose description of whatever Kevin was doing as he moved his limbs in a strange jerky fashion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He looks like a drunk marionette,” Neil says in equal parts horror and awe. It wasn’t an exaggeration, despite Kevin’s athletic abilities, he danced like a puppet with a few strings cut off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neil lets his eyes roam over the high school gymnasium, converted for One Night Only into a summer campsite with flower garland, twinkle lights, and mason jars. Nicky had complained, in great detail, how much he’d fought with the rest of the student council for less cheesy decorations. Neil can spot a few of his friends in the throng of students. While Kevin is embarrassing himself not too far away from the table that they claimed at the beginning of the night, it doesn’t take long for Neil to spot Matt’s hair, gelled to ridiculous spikes, visible over the heads of most of the other students. That meant Dan was somewhere nearby as well as Allison who’d grabbed Dan’s hand earlier and practically dragged her to the dance floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow,” Neil mumbles in a low voice when he catches sight of Aaron dancing with his girlfriend. They’re close enough together that by the end of the next song, Coach Wymack will likely come storming up to them with a ‘Jesus Christ, Minyard leave room for the Holy Spirit, you’re lucky I don’t give you two detention’. Then Aaron and Katelyn would spend the rest of the night awkwardly dancing two feet apart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andrew takes a sip of his soda, eyes also zeroed in on his twin. As expected, a few minutes later, Wymack’s distinct voice echoes out over the music causing a few couples to jump apart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think they’ll make it past graduation?” Neil asks without preamble.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not if either of them is smart,” Andrew’s voice is flat and direct. “Either they breakup within six month or they’re dumb enough get married right away then get divorced two years later.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andrew takes another sip of his drink and waves his free hand dismissively, “Aaron has it in his head that they’re going to medical school together and live happily ever after.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The words are surprising. Andrew isn’t necessarily wrong with the statistics, Neil has heard Allison say much of the same in her own equally blunt way, but Neil never placed Aaron as the type to make plans that far into the future with someone else. Both twins hold careful disdain and distrust towards other people. They are difficult to get to know and harder to understand. Where Andrew is apathetic, Aaron is surly. Privately, Neil thinks that they are far more alike than either of them would ever like to admit, but he keeps that thought to himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s better for him than most of his other girlfriends,” Neils says. He knows not to expect a response from Andrew. Instead, Neil fiddles with the tab of his can of soda. The tab snaps off and falls into the can. Neil pushes the drink away and reaches for one of the mini water bottles instead. “What about Matt and Dan?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just as stupid.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They seem pretty stable. They might work out long term.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andrew tears his gaze away from their classmates and levels Neil with a level stare. Neil turns to him and meets his gaze, unblinking. “High school relationships don’t work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t work or never work?” Andrew doesn’t respond but his nose twitches slightly in the way it usually does when Neil catches him off guard. He decides to push his luck.“Well it’s a good thing we aren’t dating then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kevin chooses that moment to return to the table breaking their quiet stare off. He looks tired but his expression is unusually bright and missing much of his usual seriousness. Usually, Neil would have something to say about that but his focus is solely on Andrew’s unwavering expression. Kevin zeroes in the unopened water bottle in Neil hands and makes a move for it. Neil for once decides not to be difficult and lets Kevin steal his drink. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you guys going to sit here all night?” Kevin asks with a frown after he quickly chugs through the entire mini water bottle. He glances back and forth between the two of them, finally noticing the slight tension in the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Neil and Andrew reply at the same time. Kevin furrows his eyebrows slightly but decides against saying whatever he was thinking. He quickly grabs another abandoned unopened water bottle and chugs it as well. He gives the pair another scrutinizing look before quickly mumbling goodbye and leaving the pair alone again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andrew breaks eye contact first but his expression hasn’t changed as he idly stares out at their classmates. Andrew and Neil sit in relative silence through two more songs before Neil speaks again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what happens if two people are still ‘not dating’ after graduation?” Andrew doesn’t respond and something unknown prompts Neil to push forward. “Or five years later. Ten. Fifteen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You assume that I won’t have killed you by then to save everyone else from your unfortunate presence.” Andrew is still facing away from Neil. Maybe it’s the lighting, but Neil thinks he can detect the slight redness of Andrew’s ears and neck that sometimes gives away more than anything Andrew means to say. Neil bites his lips to hold back a smile when Andrew crushes an empty can and flicks it across the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You haven’t thought of anything creative enough yet,” Neil says, no longer bothering to hide his open stare with any more careful glances.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have time,” Andrew says in a low enough voice that Neil almost strains to hear him over the music. “Unless you changed your mind about staying put.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that a promise?” This time Neil can’t hide his smile. “Should we get matching promise rings?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not getting fitted for a ring.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll guess your size.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t even figure out your clothing size.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neil gives a small shrug, “maybe I’ll be better at it when I ask you again in 10 to 15 years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A slow song starts and students begin pairing off on the dance floor. Neil isn’t graduating anytime soon but something about watching his classmates in this moment, together in the dingy school gymnasium makes him apprehensive of the future and how things will change when he’s no longer in the predictable bubble of high school. Here he knows what to expect but despite all his earlier bravado, he feels at a loss. In a few weeks, most of his friends will be graduating and then after that Andrew will be. In a way, Neil almost respects Aaron for being so assured in what he wants from his future. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andrew kicks his foot under the table and breaks Neil out of his spell. He pushes away from the table and tugs on Neil shirtsleeve. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need a cigarette if I’m going to listen to you planning your proposal,” he says. “Let’s go. The chaperones are distracted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neil blinks a few times as Andrew’s exact words sink in. His mind almost stutters to a halt, almost missing the latter half of Andrew’s suggestion. Andrew rolls his eyes and tugs on Neil’s shirtsleeve again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A deal. If we don’t get tired of each other in 10 years I’ll let you proposal. Yes or no?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes?” It must sound too much like a question because Andrew raises an eyebrow. “Yes,” Neil says more firmly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I’m not wearing a fucking ring.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The slow song shifts into something more upbeat and Andrew grabs Neil’s hand quickly as they sneak out of the gymnasium. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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